In India, almost 600 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. Less than 35 per cent of Indians get drinking water in their households, forcing women and adolescent girls in rural areas to travel 3-5km each day to fetch water.

The quality of water is a serious issue. Nearly 34 per cent of Indian states face high levels of water contamination especially in regions with high salinity. It is estimated that 68 per cent of total households and 82 per cent of rural households in India have no access to treated water. Contamination by microbes and harmful substances such as fluoride, arsenic, nitrates, iron and other dissolved solids poses a serious threat to public health in some areas. Such contamination is a result of over-exploitation of groundwater, excessive usage of fertilisers, improper disposal of industrial and municipal waste and other human-induced activities. Statistics show that almost 80 per cent of the prevalent diseases in India are waterborne, such as hepatitis A, cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea. Nearly 38 million Indians suffer from waterborne diseases annually and diarrhoea alone kills over 700,000 Indians every year, of which 150,000 are children affected by rotavirus.